I'm getting ready to plant some fall veggies for spring growth in my raised planter beds. Shallots and Elephant Garlic and some of those blue potatoes. I've decided to only plant things that aren't commonly carried in the local grocery story.

It's late in the evening; she's wondering what clothes to wear. She puts on her make-up and brushes her long blonde hair. As she sits at the laptop she asks herself, "Do I look all right?" And she says, "Bissage will be wonderful tonight."

AJ, yes, they did, but I have been lucky on this. They changed the fees and procedures in Cuba the day I left. They increased the fees for Permanent Residence the week after I filed for it. The officer who interviewed me yesterday said the new fees start today. So, there is something to it, I have been spared the higher fees and more bureaucracy although what I went through was enough of both.

Yeah, picture 11 is amazing, isn't it. Turns out the owners lost their home in a previous hurricane and did quite a bit of extra engineering work on this new one to protect it. As you can see, it worked---although it may still get totalled because of flood damage.

My favourite part is when NPR assumed the role of defending the US and Western cultural superiority in Dinner Jacket's mind. LOL.

Ahmadinejad: Why do you assume that your system is better than everybody else's?

NPR: I assume nothing, Mr. President, I ask questions. And my final question is this: Many visitors to Iran have remarked on an interesting trend.

Many Iranians listen to Western music, watch Western television, read Western books if they can get them, and appear to have disassociated themselves with politics. That raises a question of whether you have lost touch with many of your people.

Ahmadinejad: In fact, I'm one of the few people, one of the people who is, at all times, among the Iranian people.

I have links with everyone in Iran. The Iranian nation is a free one. And they elect freely. It's always been the case. There are no restrictions for them. Why do you think that that's a new trend? It's the same mistake that the American government makes.

NPR: You say there are no —

Ahmadinejad: Just wait for three months, and on the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, you will see how people react on the scenes.

NPR: Haven't the police confiscated satellite dishes?

Ahmadinejad: But that's a different discussion, no! It's a law. We are not addressing the law. The law was passed as a bill when it happened. There are other issues there. Sure, there are some problems, but it has nothing to do with the discussion.

Again, wait for another nine months, and you'll see the vast turnover of the people in the presidential elections. Please remember that close to 98 percent of the people support the Islamic Revolution. I am in touch with people on the streets.

NPR: Do you read Western —

Ahmadinejad: There's a lot of freedom in Iran. The example is our interview with you. Can you ask your own president these questions? Can you really so freely meet with him so easily? Never.

NPR: Do you —

Ahmadinejad: You cannot freely ask questions.

NPR: Do you watch any —

Ahmadinejad: But everybody asks questions from me freely.

NPR: Do you watch any Western television programs, Mr. President?

Ahmadinejad: Yeah, like everyone else!

NPR: What programs?

Ahmadinejad: People, after all, like movies and shows...

NPR: What's something you've seen recently?

Ahmadinejad: Of course, very little, I mostly watch Iranian TV and listen to international news.

NPR: Any Western music that you listen to or books that you read?

Ahmadinejad: Sure, me too, like everyone else, but this isn't what matters. That's not how nations matter. People in Iran see everything, read everything, they don't restrict themselves to one outlet.

NPR: The Beatles? Led Zeppelin?

Ahmadinejad: And it doesn't basically put restrictions on itself. They use whatever they have! But that's the Iranian nation. And they know how to defend their own rights, too. They won't put up with force or with domination. Whoever, by whoever, please remember that.

I have a friend who just built a house somewhere in that area. Construction was completed in April. It was designed to very high hurricane-resistant standards. It's gone now. They think another house came off its foundations and hit it. Engineering can't stop that.

But the house isn't really what gets me about the photo. It's the rest of it. That was a neighborhood. You can see the slabs from other homes around it. They're all gone now. And notice how little debris you see. It's probably all in Baytown now. Or swept out to sea. So sad.

I already have a debate drinking game. It consists of skipping the debates and playing Eve Online while sipping a martini. Every time a Chinese cash farmer spams the global help channel, I take a drink.

One brother is remote, distant, detached; while the other brother is seeking affection, connection and close relationships.

This one brother, who all-of-the-sudden, is now interested in 'family'......but where was he all those years back when 'family' was readily available to him ?

It's not something you can turn on and off like a faucet. People don't do things on YOUR timetable, and if you had awkward relationships with the male members of your family, to begin with.....and YOU'RE the one who burned bridges.....then the burden is on YOU to make the effort, on a much more consistent basis.

It might not be fair, but you'll have to give 90% while they only give 10%.

Someone needs to tell this Brother that relationships are always lopsided, and especially when you've had problems, recurrently, in these sorts of relationships, from the get-go.

Mom can't fix it, and having a good relationship with Mom doesn't count for much, when it's the relationships with (difficult) men, that you need to master.

If you can appeal, and wow, and impress the difficult men in your own family.....you might be able to socialize, impress, wow, and appeal to the difficult men that you'll face sitting across the desk at a job interview.

The older guy is, obviously, a jerk. But, there are many of his kind, and you might need them to get you somewhere in life.

It's up to the younger guy to make an impression on the older guy...who we already know is a jerk.

Jerks at work, in life, in your own family. But if you want something from them, a job, contact, introductions, connections, networking....it's up to the younger guy to, somehow, get the older jerk to look up from his stupid gadget.

Tell a joke. Sing a song. Brag about sports (fake it). Mime. Make him laugh----that might do it.

Mom, for all her glory, never taught these kids how to make social connections and become popular.......with people that you don't care for, but might need nevertheless .